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Happy Birthday Hubby

Garlands

I happily stumbled into the opportunity to take Dave to Garland’s Oak Creek Lodge for his birthday weekend.

A friend, whom I have yet to meet in person, offered it and I snagged it up the second I saw it.

orchard ladder

Betsy is a follower and frequent commenter. I did a little research and found that  Betsy has left 50 comments here. Betsy, you are awesome!

Garlands map

Anyhow, Betsy and I are Facebook friends too. On August 20th, Betsy posted that she would not be able to use her reserved weekend at Garland’s and asked if anyone would like to take it. I jumped at the opportunity!

garlands garden

Garland’s has a long history of being difficult to get into. Guests hold on to their treasured reservations from year to year. And since Betsy’s weekend happened to fall on Dave’s birthday, I just had to have it. I sent Betsy a check, she made the arrangements with Garland’s and we were set.

Arkansas Black

Dave had no idea where we were going. I just told him what to pack a bag and then I drove north.

gourd garland

He was surprised and thrilled when I pulled off beautiful State Route 89A, crossed Oak Creek, and into Garland’s 10-acre/16 cabin property.

garlands kitchen window

Garland’s is an American-plan lodge; it includes a full breakfast, afternoon tea, and gourmet dinner.

Banjo Bill

The food is a big part of the experience. We enjoyed Roast Pork Loin with Port Plum Reduction on Friday night and Pan Seared Halibut with Romesco Sauce and Saturday.

orange cranberry muffin

Oh, and the warm Orange-Cranberry muffins we scarfed down on Saturday morning…. to die for!

chef brian widner

On Saturday night, I had a quick look into the kitchen and met Chef Brian Widmer. Chef Widmer could not have been more gracious, warm, and welcoming. Thank you Chef for taking a few minutes during your crunch time to talk with me!

hobarts

It’s hard to tear yourself away from the property, but Dave and I did venture out on Saturday afternoon to visit Slide Rock State Park, which just reopened on Wednesday of last week, after the Slide Fire of this past May.  It was packed!

slide rock

We also drove into downtown Sedona to buy some fresh Sandia Chili Pepper Ristras.

ristras

Here are a couple of views of our sweet little cabin, The Georgiana.

gorgie cabin

There’s a Red Delicious apple tree right outside the front door! Let me tell you …

cabin at Garlands

… those little apples really are delicious!

red apple

We even brought some home, along with other treats from the garden.

take home

It was such a perfect weekend, that even the drive home was gorgeous.

AZ Desert Beauty

This photo was taken about 12 miles north of Black Canyon City – while we sat still in a 10-mile back-up caused by a roll-over accident ahead. When you have this to look at, even that inconvenience is not so bad.

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Thank you, Betsy!


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6 comments

1 Marissa { 10.06.14 at 9:15 AM }

Looks beautiful and sounds wonderful!

2 chefgwen { 10.06.14 at 9:43 AM }

Lucky! That’s is tough to get into for sure. And… good luck trying to top that next year, ha! Happy belated birthday Dave!

3 Sheila { 10.06.14 at 11:36 AM }

Score! What perfect timing!!

4 Amy { 10.06.14 at 12:31 PM }

Yay, I’m getting the emails now! That place looks amazing!

5 Betsy { 10.06.14 at 3:18 PM }

So glad you had such a great weekend !! We do love it so much and always love it when someone else enjoys it as much !!
Your meals sound awesome !!

6 George Hostal { 10.07.14 at 9:27 AM }

Looks really quaint and cozy!

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